Exactly, it was partially blocked so It had maybe 50% of its effect. Hendo caught him once too. Machida is a bitch that motherfucker straight up RAN. 5 rounds he wouldn't have been so lucky , even with dan's broken hand

For whatever reason, I feel as if Hendo won, your tune would be different. Sure, there were moment I enjoyed the fight (most of them from Machida) but it was mostly Hendo going for little leg kicks to set up his right hand, and Machida waiting to try to counter it. The knees to the body were the best part of the fight. If Machida could be aggressive, and still technical, then I would be a fan.

I'm a fan of both fighters. Have been since Pride for Henderson, and K-1 Heroes for Machida. My tune would be exactly the same as it is now if Henderson had uncorked a huge overhand right on him and dropped him to the canvas.

Let's get one thing cleared up, though. Machida is aggressive. It's CLASSIC Karate- he finds his moment, jumps in, throws a few well timed strikes, and gets out before he has to soak up damage. This is aggression. Moving forward all the time is not aggressive. It's a form of imposing your game plan on your opponent. Not allowing yourself to be put into situations that reduce your efficacy as a striker is also a form of aggression.

If you look at quite a few of Machida's knockouts, he's moving forward. He's timing a counter, dashing forward, and delivering that one punch or kick.

Henderson's ability to knock someone out has rarely had anything to do with his technique. Technically, his footwork sucks, and he's got that dropped-lead-shoulder going on to maximize power of the over right. Anyone can get tagged by it, especially a guy who leaps in like Machida.

Every striker has positing, every striker has avoidance, every striker uses angles, Lyoto is nothing special, he just stays further back and doesn't engage unless the opponent presents the perfect opportunity. Frankie Edgar is a much better technical striker than Lyoto. Lyoto has some good takedowns that he does nothing with because he just did it for the points, same with this patty cake kick and his patty cake punches that he does just for points.

Yeah, Machida didn't land anything with power because he never stuck around long enough to due to fear of the H-bomb. Henderson gets rocked a lot in fights, it's his recovery that's always impressive, and it annoys the shit out of me that people are saying Machida was throwing hard strikes but it's just Henderson's "granite" chin.

Also, while Machida dominated from an MMA standpoint, I totally understand what Henderson is saying. It's a fight. If one guy refuses to engage he isn't winning in a fight. If that was a real fight then Henderson could have said "alright, you're afraid, I'm just going home" and Machida would have just sat there in his karate stance following him while Hendo walked to his front door.

Yep, this is what I was saying. Dan got hit by shots that'd either KO any other fighter, or at last rock them hard enough so that Machida could come in and rush them like he did to Rashad.

Not that I'm trying to take anything away from the ladies or downplay that title fights need to be the main event, but it's a shame that this wasn't the 5-round fight (especially since we kinda already knew RR would only need a round to finish). Machida really started opening up towards the third which could have led to a finish (of either fighter actually).

Yeah, but who is in that weight class? Jones does well, but it has more to do with the luck of that weight-class being just light enough for him to come in WAY over-sized and dominate.

If things were more fair, LHW would be 200lbs (maintaining the 15lb division between a lot of the weight classes) and there'd be a 215lb cruiserweight division where Jones would be actually fighting guys his size.

As it stands, there's not enough fighters to do that, not to mention the people that decide this kind of stuff would avoid the work, but that'd create an environment much more representative of everybody's skills.

So are people that don't like fights which end by top control decisions seriously uneducated? Just because someone thinks his fighting style is not entertaining doesn't mean they don't understand it. It also doesn't mean they think it requires no skill. It simply means that they don't find it entertaining to watch.

I think it's fair to mention LnP fighters, but I don't think the comparison sticks. As I'd said before, when Machida wins, he's had a high-finish rate as of late (and not just a sub or TKO, but full-blown KOs).

If all of Machida's fights ended up like the Hendo fight, I could see where you're coming from, but he's certainly not the standup equivalent of Fitch.

Machida Dominated all the rounds, that was very clear. Hendo just planted his feet and did pretty much nothing while Machida avoided his strikes and picked him apart. If you think Machida is just going to run into Hendo's right hand, you obviously don't appreciate Machida's tactics, which also means you don't appreciate Martial Arts.

Machida knew that he is faster than Dan, and Dan knew this as well. A standoff would work against him, so Dan had to get in close quarters to stand a chance. Machida merely tried to keep the distance and did a great job.

After round 2 I bet Dan's corner told him to let Machida initiate and/or push the pace. In round 3 Dan was letting Machida initiate, which didn't work out at ALL for Dan.

This kick in particular I don't think was really meant to be a rib crusher- it looks like the striking surface being used is the top of the foot. I BELIEVE it was more of a move to drop Henderson's right elbow so he can open up the jaw for that left.

That's not to discount Henderson's ability to take a shot in the slightest. I'm just saying that I don't believe it was meant to be a showstopper.

Except Randy, Tito and Rashad don't have the power of Hendo so Machida never committed to his strikes as much as he did against them. Machida played the fight very safe and it was a good win but he didn't land any hard hits.

B) Because of Machida's stance, he can't rotate his hips all the way through the kick. This makes it less powerful than a traditional headkick. For example, I can't name a time when machida has ever had a KO via roundhouse headkick. He had the front kick KO vs Randy, but his stance is better formulated to deliver the front kick, his feet are more square.